[Cloning, antisense construction and tomato transformation of Lecop1like gene]

Here reported a 1060 bp cDNA cloning of LeCOP1LIKE gene by EST probing and RT-PCR method. In order to characterize function of this gene, a LeCOP1LIKE antisense expression vector was transformed into Micro-Tom via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation method and 10 independent transgenic lines were obtained. RT-PCR analysis showed that the expression of LeCOP1LIKE gene was evidently repressed in 4 lines of them. The transgenic plants were much shorter than their wild type control, their chlorophyll content was increased but the seed development was obviously suppressed. All these results suggested that the cloned LeCOP1LIKE gene was a negative regulator of photomorphogenesis in tomato.